The state Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would bar children under 18 from undergoing treatments that promise to “cure” homosexuality.

Senate Bill 1172 by state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach, also would force adults to sign consent forms before undergoing reparative therapies that promise to change their sexual orientation.

The measure now heads to the Assembly for consideration.

Mental health experts have long contended that a person’s sexual orientation is not a disease or disorder, Lieu said. Reparative therapy treatments sometimes lead to patients committing suicide or suffering mental and physical anguish, he said.

“The entire medical community is opposed to these phony therapies,” Lieu said. “Just a few weeks ago the man who brought any legitimacy to reparative therapy, Dr. Robert Spitzer, renounced his study and apologized to the LGBT community. Everyone agrees that this quackery needs to stop.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.